Interested parties have couple weeks left to be heard.

Interested parties have couple weeks left to be heard. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has enlargeed to October 18th the note period on a proposal that could lead to the mass grounding of airplanes 14 years or older unles they bear a special set of inspections. The proposal affected virtually all multi-engine aircraft in U registry. The FAA action to assure the airworthiness of aircraft beyond their 14th birthday is an offshoot of the Aging Aircraft Safety Act of 1991 which required special inspections and review/replacement of time limited parts during an aircraft's heavy maintenance check after the 14th year of service. The FAA first issued its proposal March 19 with notes due last August.

A 60-day extension was granted in replication to a request from the National Air Transportation Association (NATA), which said many small operators are busiest in the spring and summer month and wanted more time to assess the impact of the proposal (see Docket No. FAA-1999-5401, Notice No. 99-02 dated August 18)

There is a prolonged history to this issue. In 1993 the FAA expanded the damage-tolerance universal of inspections to assure the continued airworthiness of newly-certificated airplanes. The latest initiative shrouds four categories: (1) airplanes with non-damage-tolerance-based supplemental inspection programs, (2) airplanes that were certificated with design-life limits in succession the entire airplane or forward major components such as the wing, empennage or fuselage, (3) airplanes that were designed to "fail-safe" criteria to comply with fatigue requirements, and (4) airplanes that were certificated with limited consideration to metal fatigue. >> NATA, tel 800/808-6282 <<

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